


Hope Is Our Four-Letter Word

by mistykor



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan is Whipped, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT) is Whipped, Reincarnation, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistykor/pseuds/mistykor
Summary: He’s only ever allowed himself to look but not touch. Like a painting or an artifact in a museum where you’re only allowed to admire with your eyes.(Or, Five times Donghyuck fulfilled Mark’s requests and the one time Mark was the one to fulfill Donghyuck’s only request.)
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 63





	Hope Is Our Four-Letter Word

(1)

“How does it feel?” Mark remembers Donghyuck once asked. 

They were by the beach, sprawled on the sand, sunbathing. 

He turns his head to look at Donghyuck, who has his eyes closed. His skin was glowing under the sun and Mark had a hard time looking away. 

“It sucks,” he says as he closes his eyes. 

“It does, doesn’t it?” Donghyuck says. 

Mark stayed silent. 

“I hate the feeling of losing the choice to live,” he sighs as he blinks his eyes and looks over to Donghyuck, who was now looking back at him. “I hate that I’m suddenly being forced to count my days on Earth when I used to think I have infinite time.” 

“Nothing’s forever. It’s just what people say to deny the reality that they are all going to die eventually.”

“I know. But… I still have so many things I want to do and try. And now, my days are numbered. It sucks. It feels like I haven’t lived at all yet my time is already up.” Mark looked away as he frowned at the sky. 

“What do you wanna do?” He hears shuffling on his side.

“A lot,” he answers.

“What is it?” Donghyuck asked once again. 

Mark turned to look at Donghyuck. He was sitting up now, looking down at Mark. He’s blinding, Mark thinks. Or maybe it’s the sunset. Mark doesn’t know. 

He scans his face. Surely, it’s a face that Mark would miss when he’s gone. He wanted to touch his face and see how soft his cheeks are. 

He’s never one for skinship. It has always been Donghyuck. Donghyuck would wrap him in a warm embrace, touch his cheek, kiss his cheek and everything else. But even those, he’d never properly received as he always shy away from any form of affection. Now, he regrets it. He should’ve basked in the affection Donghyuck was willingly showering him with. 

Mark thinks about it. He thought that maybe, it’s his turn to shower Donghyuck with affection this time despite previously rejecting all Donghyuck’s advances. He thinks he might regret it more since if he doesn’t, he’ll never get to know how Donghyuck’s skin feels underneath his palm. 

He’s only ever allowed himself to look but not touch. Like a painting or an artifact in a museum where you’re only allowed to admire with your eyes. For so long, he’d been afraid that he might taint him if he ever as much let his fingertips grace his skin. But that’s not something he could think about now. Not when he suddenly learned he has now limited time to admire the beauty above him. 

_Can I kiss you?,_ he wanted to ask but decided against it.

His eyes are wide when he says, “I want to try breaking rules.” 

He saw Donghyuck let out a small smile, “I do want to see you breaking a few rules.” He tilts his head to the side as he looks down at Mark, “But aren’t we already breaking one right now?” 

They are. They were not supposed to be out here this time of the day. Especially Mark. Ever since his family found out about his inevitable early death, they had forbidden him from going out and especially not with their local troublemaker, Donghyuck. His parents were never really fond of Donghyuck before but he bet that if they learned he went to the beach today with Donghyuck, they’d really hate him now. Donghyuck knows his parents’ distaste for him but he doesn’t seem bothered by it. He still comes over to Mark’s place with or without Mark’s parents. They’re lucky that when Donghyuck came over today, his parents were out for a bit. Now that Mark thinks about it, they must now be worried about him. He conveniently left his phone at home so his time with Donghyuck won’t be interrupted. For the first time in forever, he doesn’t care what his parents would think. He just wants to stay with Donghyuck for a little longer. 

“Then,” he starts as he stares at the stars in Donghyuck’s eyes. “Can I...” Donghyuck’s brows flew to his hairline as he patiently waited for Mark to finish. 

There’s a lot of thoughts swirling in his mind and few of those are: _Can I touch your cheek? Can I hold your hand? Can I hold you?_

Always about Donghyuck, he notices. 

In the end he settles for the simplest one. 

“Can I touch your cheek?” 

Donghyuck tilts his head and chuckles, “Sure.” 

His heart was pounding when he lifted his hand and slowly reach for Donghyuck’s cheek. It’s soft just as he imagined. It’s smooth like it hasn’t experienced scars before. 

As soon as Mark’s fingertips touched Donghyuck’s cheek, he retracted his hand as if burned. He’s scared. He has tainted Donghyuck.

Donghyuck continues to watch him. Mark feels so bare under his gaze. 

“What is it?” Donghyuck asks and Mark purses his lips. He can’t possibly tell Donghyuck what he’s thinking. He can’t confess to Donghyuck that he has tainted him. 

Mark sees Donghyuck roll his eyes at him as he reaches for Mark’s hand and places it firmly on his cheek. Mark flushed. 

“You wanted to touch my cheek, didn’t you?” Mark remains unmoving as he scans Donghyuck’s face. 

Donghyuck squeezes Mark’s hand before he turns and kisses Mark’s palm while looking straight at Mark’s eyes. 

The kisses are light. He showers Mark’s palm with kisses until his wrist where he kisses it firmly.

Mark learns that Donghyuck’s lips are soft and little bit chapped but Mark wouldn’t mind feeling them on his own lips anyway. He itches to ask. But he’s afraid he’ll drive him away. He can’t. Not now at least. 

When Donghyuck finishes kissing his palm, he nuzzles on it and smiles softly at Mark. 

“What else?” Mark blinks at the question. He so wants to drown Donghyuck in his love. To feel his skin underneath his palms. To feel his heat as they stay close. Mark thinks he could die peacefully if he gets the chance to love Donghyuck. And that’s saying a lot since he’s already dying. 

“I’ll tell you later,” he replies as he looks away. 

“Why not now?” He heard Donghyuck ask. 

_So you’ll have more reason to stay by my side until my last breath._

“I haven’t thought about the others yet,” he lies when he knows fully well that all he’s ever wanted to do since Donghyuck asked was to love Donghyuck in more ways than one. 

Donghyuck hummed and Mark realizes he can feel it on his palm. Donghyuck still hasn’t let his hand go. Mark’s hand feels numb. 

He curls his hand a little and then he feels Donghyuck intertwining their hands and squeezes it. 

“You’ll tell me, right?” Donghyuck asks. But it seems like there’s underlying meaning behind the question but Mark can’t seem to decipher what it is so he simply nodded. 

He squeezes Donghyuck’s hands. 

  
  


(2)

The second time they fulfill one of Mark’s wishes, they’re at a nearby park. Mark manages to slip out of the house without being detected. He found Donghyuck sitting by the bench; his gaze faraway.

Mark didn’t plan to meet Donghyuck today. But he had hoped he’d run into him. And that never happened before. He guesses God is on his side today maybe because he’s already dying. 

He walked toward the bench and sat beside him. Donghyuck didn’t move as if he hadn’t noticed someone sitting beside him. Mark would have believed it if Donghyuck didn’t reach for his hand and intertwined their fingers. 

Mark scoots closer to Donghyuck and Donghyuck’s head falls on Mark’s shoulder, making Mark tense for a second before relaxing. 

They stayed in that position for a few moments, enjoying the quiet before Donghyuck broke the silence. 

“Have you thought about it?” 

Mark watches Donghyuck over his shoulder. 

“Yeah,” he breathes out. 

“What do you want to do?” 

It hasn’t changed over the last few days. He still wants to love Donghyuck in more ways than one.

“Want to get some ice cream?” At that, Donghyuck lifts his head to look at Mark before he’s smiling. 

“Only if you’ll pay,” Donghyuck says and Mark grins. 

He stands up, pulling Donghyuck up with him by their hands and they walk towards the ice cream parlor, hands swinging between them and their shoulders brushing. 

Mark then realizes that his wishes aren’t that hard to fulfill. Getting ice cream with Donghyuck and pretending it’s a date is easy. They fall to their usual banter, feeding each other ice cream while helping the other wipe the stain on their face with tissue. 

When they walk home, Mark realizes their hands find each other once again. And when they arrived at Mark’s doorsteps, Donghyuck gave him a kiss on his cheek as always. 

Before Mark could think better of it, he gives Donghyuck a kiss on the cheek. 

Under the moonlight, he could see Donghyuck blushed before he was smiling at Mark. 

Mark watches Donghyuck round the corner where his house was supposed to be before he walked inside his house, already anticipating the scolding he’d get from his parents. But that’s not enough to erase the smile on his face. 

He’d already fulfilled two more of wishes in one day, he thinks. 

  
  


(3)

Mark feels weak. He shouldn’t be going out. The doctor had already said he’s more prone to disease than his family but his stubborn ass still decides to sneak outside. 

He knows his parents are just worried about him and they’re only doing this to keep him safe but Mark hates it. He feels like a caged animal at his own house. His parents watching his every move. 

Mark softly closed the front door before he turned around only to be met by Donghyuck, who had his arms folded in his chest and brow raised at him. 

“I knew you’d do this,” Donghyuck sighs. 

Mark looks down and rubs his hand on his nape, clearly embarrassed at being caught. 

But Mark looks up once again, with brows furrowed. 

“But what are you doing here?” He asked, confused. 

Donghyuck points towards his bicycle that was parked by the curb, “I just got back from my part-time job when I saw you trying to sneak out of your house.” 

Mark sighs as he walks over to Donghyuck. He doesn’t even think about it when he wraps his arms around him and nuzzles his face on his neck. 

Mark feels Donghyuck unfolding his arms and returning Mark’s hug. He pats Mark’s back lightly. 

Mark lifts his head up to meet Donghyuck’s eyes. 

“Hey, think you could give a ride around the block?” Donghyuck tilts his head, as if contemplating Mark’s request. He glances at Mark’s house before sighing and nodding. 

Mark stands behind Donghyuck as he places his hand on Donghyuck’s shoulder. It’s a chilly evening, which is obviously bad for Mark but he doesn’t care. 

He probably should have cared because one moment he was enjoying the cool breeze of the night before his grip on Donghyuck loosened and he’s falling. 

When he wakes up, he’s at an emergency room of some hospital, his parents on each side of his bed. His mother, who looked like she just finished crying while his father was frowning. 

For the rest of the week, he didn’t see Donghyuck. 

  
  


(4)

He was receiving treatment obediently but he’s not as motivated as when he started and maybe that’s why he feels like instead of getting better, he’s getting worse. 

He hasn’t seen Donghyuck in two weeks. Maybe it’s because Mark had been holed up in his room ever since that night and the only time he’d gotten outside is when they visit the hospital for his treatment.

But Mark doesn’t even feel Donghyuck in those two weeks. 

Mark looks down at his phone, staring at Donghyuck’s contact number. They have each other’s phone number but they don’t text much because they see each other almost everyday anyway. But not these past few weeks. 

Mark frowns. He doesn’t like the feeling of not having Donghyuck by his side for an agonizing two weeks while he’s receiving treatment. The treatment just makes everything more real; that he’s really dying. 

He sighs as he stares at the contact number some more before he’s pressing the call button. It rings. It rings and it rings. He’s impatient. He wanted to hear Donghyuck’s voice as soon as possible so he could fill the void in Mark’s heart. 

_“Hello?”_ Says the voice on the other line and Mark’s heart jumped to his throat. 

“Hi,” he whispers, almost shy. 

There’s silence on the other side of the line and Mark bit his bottom lip. He doesn’t know what else to say. He just wanted to hear Donghyuck talk and usually, the younger would fill the silence between them, telling stories from work or complaining about his siblings or their other friends. But he does neither. Mark is scared. 

Mark clears his throat, trying and failing to come up with a topic to talk about until he hears Donghyuck speak once again. 

_“Mark,”_ Donghyuck breathes. 

Mark hums in acknowledgement. 

“H-How are you?” He stutters and curses himself in his head. 

_“Fine.”_ Mark’s heart sinks. He’s not used to Donghyuck’s one-liner. _“You?”_

Mark wanted to say he’s fine but that’s obviously a lie. He’s sick and that already makes him not fine. But not seeing Donghyuck for two week? He’s devastated. 

He settles for a simple, “Same old.” 

He hears Donghyuck chuckles on the other line and Mark can’t help the smile forming on his lips. He wants to see Donghyuck’s face. 

Mark lays on his bed as he stares at the ceiling. There’s static on his phone, Donghyuck doesn’t speak once again but he hears him hum. 

Mark turns and lays on his side as he puts his phone on loudspeaker. 

“Hey, can you sing me a song?” He asks and he hears Donghyuck took a breath. 

And a moment later, he whispers, _“Sure.”_

Mark had heard Donghyuck sing once when he was over Donghyuck’s house. Donghyuck was at the kitchen, cooking lunch for their big family and Mark came over unannounced. 

Donghyuck was singing one of Mark’s favorite Justin Bieber songs. 

He hears him as soon as he steps inside the house. And Mark, as if a sailor being tempted by a siren’s captivating voices, looks for the sound and stops on the entryway of the kitchen, stunned.

At that moment, Mark knows he wouldn’t mind drowning if he could hear more of this siren’s captivating voice. 

  
  


(5)

The last request happens when Mark’s parents had begrudgingly allowed Donghyuck back into their house. They kept to themselves when Donghyuck arrived. Mark begged them to be nice but that’s too much to ask so instead, they try to ignore Donghyuck’s presence as Mark drags him upstairs into his room, pausing every other step and leaning to Donghyuck for support. 

Mark’s mother had even given them a tray of juice and sandwiches to eat. And that never happened before. Mark feels happy at the slight improvement. 

As soon as they got inside his bedroom, Mark fell on his bed. His body drained from the energy he used going up the stairs. 

Donghyuck immediately kneeled beside his bed, worry evident in his face as he asked, “Are you okay?” 

At this point, Mark knows not to lie anymore because what would be the use if everybody could see that he’s not fine. His body is continuously deteriorating. 

“No,” he says as he smiles at Donghyuck. He’s not okay but he feels a little better now that Donghyuck is here within arm’s reach. 

“Then why are you smiling?” Donghyuck asked, confused as he cards his fingers through Mark’s hair. 

“Because I’m happy,” Mark answers as he tries to lift his hand to put it over Donghyuck’s hand that’s carding his hair. 

And it’s the truth. Mark is happy to have Donghyuck here, right now. And Mark swears he could just die right now. Literally. 

Donghyuck’s hand squeezes Mark’s as he bit his bottom lip. Mark’s eyes immediately caught the action and stared before meeting Donghyuck’s eyes once again. 

“Hey, will you ask me again?” 

“Huh?” 

“Ask me what else I wanna do before I die.” Donghyuck frowns at him. He must be upset. They have never explicitly used the word ‘die’ because it makes everything too real. But Mark doesn’t care anymore because he has accepted the inevitable. With Donghyuck right here, he can say that he’s ready to die. 

Donghyuck shakes his head.

“I don’t wanna,” he whispers. 

It’s Mark’s turn to frown. He’d been waiting for this moment for months. 

“Why?” He asks. 

Donghyuck lifts his eyes to look at Mark and Mark notices that Donghyuck’s eyes are glossy. He’s trying his best not to let go of the tears but fails. 

Mark lifts a hand to wipe away the tears that escaped and Donghyuck squeezes his hand.

“Mark,” he pleads. Mark doesn’t know what for. 

“Why, Donghyuck?” 

“Don’t go,” his voice cracks and Mark gives him a small smile, hoping that it’d be reassuring but Donghyuck only cries some more and grips Mark’s hand tightly. 

“I love you,” Mark says, choosing to ignore Donghyuck’s request. 

By now, Donghyuck is full on sobbing. He’s not trying to stop his tears anymore as he grips Mark’s hand like it’s a lifeline. There’s snot running on his nose but Mark thinks he’s still beautiful despite it all. 

“Can I kiss you?” Mark says his final request and Donghyuck shook his head, as if to will the thought of Mark dying out of his head. 

“No,” he sobs. 

“Why?” Mark tries to whine and let out a small laugh. 

“Let me kiss you, Donghyuck so I have something to remember you by on my journey.” 

Donghyuck shook his head as he sobs, “You’re not going anywhere. You’re gonna stay here.” 

Mark closes his eyes, “I’m tired, Donghyuck.” He smiled sadly at Donghyuck, who was frowning at him. 

“Are you tired of me? I promise you’ll never see me again ever. Just… just stay,” he pleads once again and Mark laughs at him. 

“Hyuck, weren’t you listening?” He pinches Donghyuck’s cheek. “I said I love you, didn’t I? I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

“Then let me know,” Donghyuck whispers. “Let me know how much you love me.”

“But you won’t let me kiss you.” 

“Stay. Let me know how much you love me by staying.” 

“Hyuck, my body is deteriorating. I can’t stay. My body is already giving up on me.” 

Donghyuck looks down. 

“You’re so unfair, Mark Lee.” 

Mark nods, “Nothing’s fair in this world, Donghyuck.” 

There was a moment of silence while Mark stared at his ceiling and Donghyuck continued to kneel beside his bed, bowing down as if in a deep prayer. Maybe he is, Mark thinks. 

“Okay.” 

Mark turns to look at Donghyuck, his eyes are red-rimmed, his lips are pursed but there’s determination on his eyes. 

“I’ll let you kiss me.” And Mark smiles. 

He then tries to move forward to reach Donghyuck’s face. 

He can barely carry his body but he’s been waiting to kiss Donghyuck for months—for _years_. 

And when his lips met Donghyuck’s lips, he felt bliss. As expected, Donghyuck’s lips are soft and chapped but Mark doesn’t mind at all. 

He savors the taste of Donghyuck’s lips on his, tasting the salt from his tears earlier. 

He feels Donghyuck pushing forward. Mark’s head hit his pillow as his hand found Donghyuck’s cheek to caress them. 

He opened his eyes when he felt something wet on his face. He sees Donghyuck on top of him, crying once again. 

He hid his face on Mark’s neck as he trembled. Mark runs a comforting hand on his back. 

“I love you,” Mark hears Donghyuck whispers on the crook of his neck. 

He smiles sadly and kisses Donghyuck’s hair. 

At that moment, he badly wished they had more time to love each other. 

Donghyuck fell asleep on top of him. 

That was the first time his parents allowed Donghyuck to sleep over. That's also the first Mark cried ever since he learned that his days were numbered. 

He hugs Donghyuck tighter, afraid to let go but he has to. 

  
  


(+1)

Mark sits at the hospital bed. He stares blankly at the white wall in front of him. 

He wonders how long he has been staring at the wall. 

He looks down at his pale hands and at the envelope placed on top of his palms. 

He hasn’t dared looking inside it just yet. He’s afraid. 

He can feel his head hurting and his vision becoming blurry. He realizes that he’s crying. 

It’s supposed to be his last day at the hospital. At the end, he managed to create a miracle and _survived._

He knows deep inside his heart what, or rather, who made the miracle happen. Who motivated him to push through. 

He sobs as he grips at the letter. 

It was a letter from Donghyuck.

He closes his eyes and tries to forget the news his family delivered to him. 

“Donghyuck,” he remembers his mother said. She had never called his name before always referring to him as _that child._ “He’s dead.” 

Mark stilled before he glared at his mother.

“I know how much you hate him but why would you wish death on him? You had a son who was dying. Why would you joke about this?” He yells. 

His mother purses her lips before she was handing him an envelope—a crumpled envelope with a stain. A red stain. 

“He wrote that when he was still alive,” his mother explains. 

Mark furrows his brows as he stubbornly says, “No.” 

He glared at his mother once again, “He’s not dead! How could he be dead! He asked me to stay!” 

“Mark,” his mother gulps. “He… he’d been involved in a hit and run… and he was brought to the hospital dead on arrival.” 

Mark can feel his whole being tremble as he whispered, “When?” 

“Last week.” 

He felt like a cold bucket was dumped into his head.

It’s been a whole week and he didn’t have any idea. He was excited, even, to go home. To go to Donghyuck. How could this be? 

“Why… why didn’t you tell me? Why did no one tell me? I kept asking about him! Why didn’t you tell me?” He wailed.

For someone who is being discharged and declared illness-free, he is crying as if this was his last day on Earth, rather than his last day in the hospital. 

_It might as well be,_ he thinks bitterly but scolds himself immediately. 

How could he think of leaving again when he had already fulfilled Donghyuck’s only request. To stay. He was sure Donghyuck wouldn’t be happy to hear his thoughts. 

He laughs bitterly. So this is how Donghyuck felt all along? 

He looked down at the letter on his hand. A crumpled letter with a red stain—no, he won’t name the red stain. It only makes him feel more devastated. To think that this letter was clutched tightly by Donghyuck before his last moments. 

Mark’s breath hitched at the thought and he had to calm himself down before he finally pulled the contents out of the envelope with shaking hands. 

  
  


💌

Dear Mark, 

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to visit you in the hospital. I was just scared. I know. I’m a coward. I can’t bear to see you suffering and I know it’s selfish of me to only think of myself when you’re right there, suffering by yourself. I wanted to support you. I really did. But I don’t know if I can be of help because I know for sure, once I see you, I’m gonna bawl my eyes out and that’s something you don’t need to see, trust me. Haha. 

I hope you have not forgotten me yet, Mark.

  
  


_(How could I? When you’re all that I could think about whenever I’m suffering and whenever I’m happy.)_

  
  


Because Mark, you’re all that I can think about these past few days, weeks, months—you’re all that I can think about everyday. Your eyes, your nose, your lips, your smile, your laugh. I miss you. I miss you yet I’m not doing anything to go to you. I’m a coward, I'm sorry. 

Also, I’m sorry for selfishly asking you to stay. I’ve had a lot of time to think and I know that it was wrong of me to force you to stay when you wanted to go. I was just hoping, I guess? No matter what your decision will be, know that I’ll never forget you. You’ll always be in my heart. 

It took a lot of self-reflection for me to come to my senses. I don’t want your memory of me to be as someone who left you behind when you needed me the most. I’ve come to realize how selfish I’ve been and I hope you forgive me, Mark. 

I don’t know when you’ll be able to read this but if this is already in your possession, it means I grew balls and finally had the guts to visit you. 

So... what do you think about my purple hair? I look pretty good, don’t I? 

  
  


_(I wasn’t able to see it but I bet you do. You always look good.)_

  
  


If you ever decide to leave, I hope you bring the image of me smiling with you. Oh God. I hope I was smiling when I got to the hospital. Am I? If I did cry, erase that image please. Thanks. Just kidding. Remember me however you want and I’ll do the same.

I know I’ve ever only said this once and I don’t even know if you even heard me or was it just me dreaming but I just want to say that you’re the music to my ears, you’re the apple to my pie, you’re my missing puzzle. (UGH that’s so cheesy! Good thing I don’t have to say this to you in person unless…) 

Mark Lee, korean name: Lee Minhyung, remember this well. I love you. I love you. I love you! I love you! I fuckin’ love you! 

Honestly, I could write it forever but how did you feel when I said it to your face? I hope I don’t look constipated when I said it. I’ve wanted to tell you this since forever; since before that time at the beach, and maybe since before you even realized your own feelings. I love you so much. I just hope that I could have said it a lot more before our time had been cut short. I hope I could have loved you more. But it’s okay. Because I know that in every moment I’ve spent with you, I’ve loved you ever since. 

I hope that in our next life, we’ll have enough time to love each other. I hope we’ll get the chance to love each other in our own time. 

Whatever you decided on, I hope you’ll be happy. I love you. 

Love, 

Your Sun 

P.S. I know you refer to me as the sun. I heard it once when you thought I was asleep :P 

Don’t worry, it’s cute! I love it. I love you. 

💌

  
  


Mark almost tore the letter to shreds. Lee Donghyuck is unfair. 

_You asked me to stay but why didn’t you?_

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


(BONUS) 

He was sprawled out on the sand, sunbathing. His eyes were closed as he let the sun touch his exposed skin. The beach was a little crowded and noisy because it’s the summer but it didn’t dampen his mood one bit.

He heard shuffling beside him and thump, sounding like someone has sat beside him. 

“How does it feel?” He hears the person said. 

He can’t help but smile at the question. It feels like deja vú; a distant memory from long ago. 

Everything feels the same except that this time, it wasn’t him who was asking. 

He didn’t know what does that mean. He just _knows._

“It’s great.” His smile was wide as he answered. 

He propped his elbows on the sand and slid his sunglasses to watch the person beside him, who was looking down at him with a curl on his lips. 

“It’s great,” he repeats. “You should try sunbathing too.” He grins. 

The person beside him spread his lips in a smile, making his eyes disappear and he can’t help but compare them to a moon—a crescent moon to be exact. 

“Alright,” the person said but he remains unmoving as he continues staring back. 

The person held a hand out, “I’m Jeno—Lee Jeno, by the way.” 

He stares at it for a few seconds before he clicked his tongue, “Lee, huh?” 

His eyes met Jeno’s eyes before he smiled and took the hand to shake, “Na Jaemin.” 

Jeno then laid beside him. Jaemin closed his eyes before he speaks again, “I think it’s unfair that you’re a Lee.” 

Jeno chuckles but Jaemin refused to look at him, “Nothing’s fair in this world, Jaemin.” 

Jaemin turned to look at him with a raised brow. Jeno was already watching him with a fond smile as he says, “But I think the world can sometimes be fair.” 

Jaemin returned the fond smile and shook his head as he chuckles, “Why?” 

“Because I got to meet you again in this lifetime.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I think it’s easy to guess, but did you find out who is who at the end? Or rather, who was who? 
> 
> Again, thank you for reading!


End file.
